[Man Must Live is] Mphahlele's first collection of short stories…. (p. 17)

Although the characters in the stories are not as yet realistic portraits of the earthy people among whom he lived, Man Must Live already sets the pattern for Mphahlele's future writing in its dependence on personal experience. It is tempting in all Mphahlele's writing to spot the corresponding incident or character in his life, but this can obviously serve no useful purpose except to demonstrate authenticity….

It is the mental, rather than the factual experience, however, that constitutes the material for his writing. "Whatever I write," he tells us, "will always be rooted in my boyhood experiences." These experiences, he says, helped to define his responses to life wherever he lived. This he calls the "tyranny of place," but a tyranny "that gives me the base to write, the very reason to write." (p. 19)

In these stories...